Bella Thorne has compared the lasting effects of sexual abuse to "wearing a dirty cologne".
Bella Thorne has opened up about her past experiences of sexual abuse
The 25-year-old actress went public with her experiences back in January 2018 and she used it to inspire her directorial debut - a short named 'Paint Her Red' - which premiered at the Taormina Film Festival in Italy this week and depicts a woman trying to break free of the patriarchy.
Speaking about the film's end scene which shows the character rips off a male body suit, Bella said it was heavily influenced by her own past. She told Deadline.com: "The ending started with an idea of how it feels to take him off you. I’ve spoken about this in the past. When you have been abused and sexually abused, you kind of wear it on your skin, like a dirty cologne, that is just attached to you, you can’t get him off you.
"You look in the mirror and he’s there, he’s all over your face and your skin and, and there’s something horrifying about that."
Bella previously opened up about what happened to her in a candid Instagram post in January 2018 in which she wrote: "I was sexually abused and physically growing up from the day I can remember till I was 14.
"When I finally had the courage to lock my door at night and sit by it. All damn night. Waiting for someone to take advantage of my life again. Over and over I waited for it to stop and finally it did. But some of us aren't as lucky to get out alive. Please today stand up for every soul mistreated."
She also detailed her past in her book 'Life of a Wannabe Mogul: Mental Disarray' which features poems about her childhood struggles and went on to open about her past in an interview with ABC News.
During the chat, Bella did not name her abuser and revealed she has turned her anger about what happened to her onto society as a whole.
Bella told the outlet: "I think that you have anger towards society in general. And our society clearly … this is something that is literally happening at everyone's doorstep. And still, nothing is ever done about it."
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